French security forces, later helped by their Ivorian colleagues, cleared the demonstrators from the runway but they then reassembled outside the airport entrance.

French tanks stopped them from re-entering the terminal building.

A plane from French company Air Liberte finally took off around 1200 local time (1100 GMT).

Ivorian Defence Minister Bertin Kadet went to the airport to calm the protesters and he said the French action had inflamed the situation.

"I spoke to the French troops, I asked them to leave the area to avoid further demonstrations," he said.

"I think there are situations which we can avoid by working together."

Fears of war

Some 2,500 French troops are monitoring a ceasefire line across the middle of the country.

They were originally sent to protect French and other western nationals in Ivory Coast.

Government supporters accuse the French of backing the rebels

Some observers fear that if the French troops are switched to evacuate their nationals, Ivory Coast will return to full-scale war.

After the deal was signed last weekend, Mr Gbagbo's supporters staged four days of anti-French protests.

Rebels say they have been promised the defence and interior ministries but this does not appear in the official text.

The army has said it will refuse to serve under a rebel defence minister.

Nation divided

Mr Gbagbo has not yet delivered his address to the nation, in which he has promised to explain why he agreed to the controversial deal.

The BBC's Tom McKinley in Abidjan says that without the support of the army and the main Ivory Coast political parties, the president has little choice but to break his promise and reject the plan for reconciliation.

He says his only chance of carrying it though would be if the rebels dropped their demand for the defence and interior ministries.

The conflict has split the world's largest cocoa producer along ethnic and religious lines.

The rebels control the largely Muslim north, while the mainly Christian south, including Abidjan, remains in government hands.